The boss of online appliances retailer AO World said recording revenues of £384.9m in its first annual results since becoming a public company is something he is ‘quietly proud of’.

The Bolton company, started by John Roberts following a £1 pub bet with his pal, floated on the Stock Exchange earlier this year with a market value of £1.6bn.

AO, which sells fridges, freezers, tumble dryers and other household appliances online, yesterday posted a 40pc jump in revenues in the the year to March 31 with underlying earnings up 10.9pc to £11.2m.

Roberts, who pocketed £86m when he sold some of his shares and his firm, told the M.E.N, that more is to come with AO ready to launch in a number of European countries including Germany.

He also said past reports centering on him not being prepared to leave his children any of his £500m fortune were wrong.

Roberts said: "In regards to the stories about me not leaving any money to my children – I never said I was leaving nothing for them. I will give the kids the best start in life that we can afford. But what they do with it is up to them. I just don’t want them to be defined by what I do.”

He added: "Yesterday’s results were a quietly proud day for us. We are a great north west success story and the results since the IPO are all about us going back to investors and saying 'this is what we said we would do and this is what we have done'.”

He said ‘there were no surprises’ in the results, with AO’s revenue growth being driven through its own website, where sales were up 45.4pc to £287.1m.

Roberts added: “For us the results were a relatively dull update. But dull, at this stage, is good.

“We are now looking forward to our launch in Germany and other territories in Europe later on.

“We are called the Google of the north,” said Roberts, who lives three minutes from AO’s headquarters in Bolton.

“There’s a Starbucks in our base, a spa and you can have your haircut for £3 – it only takes 15 minutes – and we all use it.

“What I’m most proud off in all of this is how we have been in the Sunday Times list of top 5 companies to work for in the past three years.”

AO has recently begun selling televisions in a bid to take a slice of a UK TV market worth £4.2bn a year.

The company said third-party website sales were up 28.5pc to £79.3m during the year, driven by higher volumes from both insurance replacement clients and branded websites.

Sales in the company’s third party delivery service grew to £18.5m compared to last year’s £15.8m.

Roberts said: "We have already started selling televisions. It is a mega category to get into and that has been launched. But it had nothing to do with the World Cup. I don't want to be non patriotic but if you build a business around the England football team doing well, well what more can I say."